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Beware of the VAT

Updated Oct. 21, 2009 7:07 p.m. ET

Ernest Christian and Gary Robbins ("The Dangers of a Value-Added Tax," op-ed, Oct. 15) never explicitly say it, but the motivation for a VAT tax, both in Europe and now in the U.S., is to finance profligate spending. Just like the spendthrift programs the VAT is designed to rescue, the tax will not easily be done away with once enacted. And that's the best reason to never enact it in the first place.